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By Elizabeth Williamson The New York Times Emily Steel Fri., Sept. 7, 2018 AUSTIN—More than ever before in his two-decade career built on baseless conspiracy theories, angry nativist rants and end-of-days fear-mongering, Alex Jones is being called to account. In a Texas courthouse, his lawyers are battling defamation claimsresulting from one of his most infamous acts: spreading false reports that the Sandy Hook massacre of 20 first graders and six adults was an elaborate hoax. In Silicon Valley, Facebook, YouTube and, as of Thursday, Twitter, under pressure to better curb hate speech and incendiary misinformation, have largely cut him off. His latest stunt — turning up on Capitol Hill this week to call attention to his claim that he is being unfairly silenced on ideological grounds — led to an embarrassing rebuff by a conservative Republican senator. The big question for him now is whether his bluster — and the implicit support he has … [Read more...] about Conspiracy theories made Alex Jones rich, and they may bring him down

By Hamza Shaban The Washington Post Mon., June 25, 2018 Employees at Amazon.com are calling on chief executive Jeff Bezos to end the sale of facial recognition technology to law enforcement agencies and to discontinue partnerships with firms that work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In a letter, a group of Amazon workers said they are also troubled by a recent report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), revealing the company’s sale and marketing of Rekognition, its facial recognition technology, to police departments and government agencies. Workers at Amazon are protesting the recently halted Trump administration policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. “We don’t have to wait to find out how these technologies will be used. We already know that in the midst of historic militarization of police, renewed targeting of Black activists, and the growth of a federal deportation … [Read more...] about Amazon staff decry company’s ICE ties

During an annual dinner he hosts at the World Economic Forum, held this week in the Swiss alpine resort, Soros turned his sights on a host of subjects including US President Donald Trump and the speculation frenzy surrounding the bitcoin cryptocurrency. But much of the Hungarian-born financier's ire was reserved for the tech giants of Silicon Valley who, he argued, needed to be more strictly regulated. "Facebook and Google effectively control over half of all internet advertising revenue," the 87-year-old told diners during a speech. "They claim that they are merely distributors of information. The fact that they are near-monopoly distributors makes them public utilities and should subject them to more stringent regulations, aimed at preserving competition, innovation, and fair and open universal access." He predicted that tech giants would "compromise themselves" to access key markets like China, creating an "alliance between authoritarian states and these large, data rich IT … [Read more...] about Soros to Google and Facebook: ‘Your days are numbered’